Is Arsenal Still a Big Club?

At first glance, this question looks bleedingly obvious. With their massive fan base, a beautiful new 60,000 plus seat stadium, and their years of success and trophies, Arsenal should be quite clearly considered to be a “big club.” For the past decade and more, they have been considered part of the so-called Big Four, along with Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool. But now that old order is crumbling, and Arsenal are struggling to keep pace with the other big clubs.

Just about three weeks ago, when Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal, Guardian pundit (and EPL Talk award winner) Barry Glendenning made an offhanded comment that should really stick in the gut of all Arsenal fans. He stated that of course Spurs should beat us. They spend significantly more money than us on players. He’s dead right. And now it has come to this: Tottenham are on the verge of finally, and perhaps permanently, overtaking Arsenal as the dominant club in North London.

My fellow Gooners. Read that again. That should strike fear in the heart of every Arsenal fan around the globe.

But the numbers and the reality doesn’t lie. Sure, Arsenal has finished above Tottenham for 15 straight seasons. But you don’t get a trophy for that. And now that Tottenham has finally reaped Champions League riches, these days are certainly numbered as well.

Which leads me back to my original question. Can Arsenal continue to call themselves a big club over the long-term without spending the requisite money?

While Arsenal continue to stay amongst the strongest clubs in Europe on the Forbes list, they have definitely fallen behind domestic rivals Chelsea and Man U, and most certainly behind Barcelona, Real Madrid, and perhaps even Bayern Munich. With the rise of Manchester City and Spurs, it won’t be long before Arsenal find themselves behind these clubs.

But the question has to be asked: Why?

When did Arsenal fall behind to the point where they may simply not be able to keep up? Arsenal have sold big players before, most notably Nicolas Anelka. What makes them different now, and why can’t they recover?

1. Inability to Market Themselves, Especially Outside Europe. By all measures, Arsenal play the perfect style to be the most popular club in North America and Asia. They play wide open, attractive football, and their skill and talent makes crowds want to see them play, even in opposing markets. But Arsene Wenger remains very stubborn. As the Gaffer wrote just six months ago, the fact that Arsenal have not gone on such a tour is almost criminal. The fact that Arsenal have also ignored key markets in Asia, while allowing clubs such as Liverpool, Everton, and of course Chelsea and Manchester United dominate that region has been business malpractice by Arsene Wenger.

2. Smart Spending In Face of Massive Debt. This is one that i will credit Arsene for. While other clubs, most notably Manchester United And Liverpool, spent heavily in the face of massive debt, Arsenal actually made a large profit over the last three seasons, selling such luminaries as Adebayor, Flamini, and Kolo Toure. Liverpool, however, have spent freely, adding Aquilani, Torres, and others. That club may pay the ultimate price: if a new owner isn’t found soon, they may become the new Leeds, forced to sell off players and plunge through the ranks of the football league.

3. Lack of development and motivation of some key players. While I will not spend this column harking on the failure of players like Denilson or Theo Walcott to grow at the club level, it is important to note that a number of these young players have not developed in the way we all thought they would. Sure, some of it has to do with key injuries, but this can not be an excuse: it is Arsene Wenger’s job to highlight not just the top talent, but also durable talent. Every manager knows that the Premier League season is long and grueling. The manager must find players up to the task.

4. Lack of depth. Three and four are very much related. Everyone this side of Rotterdam knows that Robin van Persie gets injured. Everyone, that is, except for Arsene Wenger. When RVP is inevitably out for 3-4 months with some sort of calf/knee/ankle/foot injury, Arsene Wenger has no plan B. But the facts don’t lie. When Didier Drogba was out for a couple months, Nic Anelka was there to pick up the scoring slack. Arsenal simply have no other striker option good enough. Eduardo is not the same player he was before the injury; he may never be. Nik Bendtner is just starting to scratch the surface of his talent. At this point, however, he’s simply not a reliable option.

5. Arsene Wenger Himself. This is the one that is really hardest for me to write. But first, a confession. I generally hate all the coaches/managers of teams I root for. I have always disliked Jim Leyland, even when the Tigers made their first World Series in 22 years. My anger toward Lloyd Carr was unparalleled when he was the coach at Michigan. There has only been one coach who I have steadfastly supported: Arsene Wenger. It was hard not to. The man brought trophy after trophy to Arsenal. Every fan swore their allegiance: “In Arsene We Trust,” the banner reads behind the goal. But is Arsene Wenger really deserving of that? The past five seasons don’t lie: While the ship has been sinking, while Arsenal players struggled (especially in goal), Arsene Wenger behaved not like one of the winningest managers in history, but more like Baghdad Bob. “We have utmost confidence in (insert flopping continental keeper name here)” he would say, while that keeper flubbed one or two goals almost every game. Arsene Wenger needs someone to offset him, someone to say to him “Arsene, we really need a new keeper.” “Arsene, Silvestre and Billy Gallas aren’t good enough.” In other words, Arsene Wenger needs someone to tell him when he’s wrong. He’s been wrong on the keeper, he was wrong to not buy depth the last couple years (as stars were likely out of our price range), and he’s wrong not to strengthen the squad at the back and at the front. If Arsene Wenger is unable to notice these things on his own, he needs someone to tell him when he’s wrong. Before it’s too late.

While Cesc may walk now, and Gallas not long after, it is clear that Arsenal have a lot of decisions to make. While a lot of these fall on the shoulders of one man, it is important that he understands that his years of winning have bought him a lot of patience. But a fifth consecutive season without silverware, and a 4th without any sort of final appearance, will see the end of the patience from a lot of fans. While he can point fingers at Barcelona or Chelsea “tapping up” our players, it is clear that Arsene has not done enough to convince our players that their futures lie at Arsenal. In 2010-2011, Arsene has the chance to reverse the bleeding. If he does not, a steady and perhaps irreversible decline may be at hand at Arsenal.

Jordan Acker will continue to love his Gunners no matter what. Follow him on Twitter at @JAcker2L

“My fellow Gooners. Read that again. That should strike fear in the heart of every Arsenal fan around the globe.”

Not for a second – it makes me quote you and jump into the comment to call this article “FULL OF SH*T” , “Flamebait”, and an attempt to turn the recent Arsenal news into more clicks for your site’s Ad banners…

Lol, Tottenham better than Arsenal – that’s some good gangja you’re smoking there

I think you do Arsenal a disservice Jordan and I’m a Spurs fan. Only the most optimistic ( or blinkered) Spurs fan can honestly say we’re anywhere near the level of consistency shown by Arsenal over the last 13 seasons since Wenger arrived in North London. As we say here, one swallow doesn’t make a summer.

Fabregas was always, always going to rejoin Barcelona, it’s just surprising how quick it’s turned out. It’s tough when your best player leaves, I’ve seen it enough at White Hart Lane over the years but it’s not the end of the world.

The Gunners are in far better shape financially than any of the other big teams debt wise and the squad is still very young. Some wise acquisitions this summer could easily fill the gap left by Fabregas.
Compared to Liverpool, who are in real trouble, both off and on the field, despite what their fans may think, Arsenal will be up there once again next season.

You should definitely watch the free Q&A videos with Ivan Gazidis on the Arsenal website. He clearly discusses the club’s deficiencies on the commercial side, including our approach to overseas marketing and touring. He talks about how the club have (prior to now) lacked a world-class management team to tackle the challenges of capitalizing on the club’s worldwide brand. It is patently not down to Wenger’s “stubborness”.

Your post reeks a bit of naivete and ignores the shift in strategy employed by Wenger in the face of a stadium development, property development, inflation of wages due to Chelsea and Man City, and the financial crisis. He has managed to position the team and the club in a strong financial posture with a very young squad which will only improve with time and with the club’s increasing prosperity.

You only have to look at Liverpool to see that it is not just down to spending money. Arsenal are a proper club run the proper way, and in the next decade you should expect to see a vast tranformation of Arsenal into a true megaclub. If you look at Man U, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Milan, they have all had their enormous stadiums for many years already. Arsenal have just got theirs. We will be joining their ranks in the very near future.

Its not ‘is’ Arsenal, its ‘are’ Arsenal. The team/club is not referred to as I or he, Its referred to as as ‘we’ or ‘us’.
seems a little trivial, but i have come across this on a few blogs lately…
its bad enough that you call it the EPL, but at least thats understandable as it has been promoted as that overseas…but Arsenal ‘is’…is just really bad

Nah thats daft. Spurs have got a long way to go to be on par with us. Even if they did finish above us for a season or 2 it would not last. The work we have been putting in will hold us in very good stead in the not too distant future. Scaremongering seems to be the new religion.

“Even if they did finish above us for a season or 2 it would not last”
this is based on absolutely nothing. so you cite the past as defense for the present, but if the past is unfavorable then it doesn’t matter at all? i agree this article is a bit ridiculous, but that is not grounds for posting mindless bs like its fact. whats next, “if we get relegated it doesn’t mean we aren’t the best club in england”?

i think arsenal do have some problems. they are a clear 3rd right now in england, and nobody really knows how this city madness will unfold. if wenger can bring himself to spend money then they will be fine, but its hard to believe they will be better next year than last.

Arsene is one but the board has pretty much a lot of say in the transfer fee available i would imagine. I admire Arsenal for the way they play and their philosophy which is to give the young ones a chance. Sure people will compare to The Invincibles but that was a team of Henry,Bergkamp,Pires,Ljungberg,Vieira,Petit/Gilberto,Cole,Lauren,Campbell/Adams/Keown & Seaman all top class and that was quite a phenomenon whereby things clicks to be so beautiful much like the current Barca team. And all above players was brought in as unknowns and young polished to be a gem of a team which is what Arsene has always been about. Walcott/Persie/Hleb/Nasri/Rosicky/Arshavin/Wiltord/Flamini/Cesc/Ramsey/Clichy/Sagna/Gallas/Vermaelan/keepers are similar and still very much in a template of the above team and its players. So it will definitely click again and they be winning and playing beautifully while at it. Even if Arsenal does not win next season or a few more Arsene will still be around because the board knows he is that good for the club future.

If you want to dwindle on semantic Spurs technically aren’t in the CL yet. From a purely theoretical point of view they have to play a qualifying round since they did come 4th and for all we know they could be knocked out right there and then and be looking at the Europa League. With the recent change in format to the CL to include top 3 automatically qualify and the 4th play a qualifying round for the group stages there is the potential for some quality opposition for the Spurs.

To be honest this situation can be likened to Liverpool/Everton in 2007 when Everton finished 4th in the league and Liverpool finished 5th but won the CL. Liverpool got back into the CL on a technicality and Everton crashed out of their group stage qualifier and haven’t see any CL action since. Until Spurs consistently stay in the top four then Arsenal don’t have to look over their shoulder at Spurs. Even historically, Spuds have a long way to go to to match Arsenal. They’ve won 2, count them TWO league titles and Arsenal have 13 so this could be a one off for Spuds or it couldn’t be but we’re definitely jumping to conclusions about them already.

it wouldn’t be looking over their shoulder if they were on par with or better than arsenal. should they look over their shoulder at united? wouldn’t do much good since they have been in front of them for seasons.they should be looking over their shoulder at spurs. they are still behind them but not paying attention to your up and coming competitors isn’t really a good idea.

This article exemplifies why I hate the offseason. Some folks have too much free time on their hands and can’t help but think up rubbish like this article. Every year countless people, like the author above, slag the Arsenal and foresee their impending doom, and every year the Arse proves them wrong! And please stop the reckless fear mongering about how every club is overtaking us just because the Spuds reached the CL qualifier!

Friend, really, I’m going to have to ask you to bring a little clarity into your perspective. There are four titles (three, really, since the League Cup is pointless) available every season to every English side. The league is the most difficult to win on a tight budget, which is what Arsenal has willingly constrained itself to in the hopes of a stronger long-term foundation, unlike it’s primary three contenders. The other three competitions involve TONS of luck in order to even make a final, which is why you saw Pompey, the absolute dregs of the top division even before the points deduction, in the FA Cup final this season. Any time you reduce a competition to a series of single- or two-game competitions (which also feature blind draws), the results are due as much to good fortune as supreme talent.

Yes, we all want trophies, but let’s not confuse a relative lack of silverware with a capitulation. Arsenal have been remarkably consistent — and consistently excellent — in Wegner’s term. Every top side in the world, including mighty the world-beating Barca, have seen slumps of similar nature over periods of time that rival Arsenal’s current five-year drought. To spend like drunken sailors this summer in order to satisfy the singular goal of winning a trophy in 2011 could stand to be a Pyrrhic victory, and those are always remembered as losses in the end.

Arsene has proven many people wrong on many things since the first day he arrived in the league. This is not to say he is above reproach or doubt, only that he has certainly earned a great deal of rope.

EDIT: My statement about the “four” titles available is clearly an overstatement. Obviously, the caveats for each competition apply; I meant to say that there are four available to the top four teams. Apologies.

Talking out your arse mate. Tottering Hotscum will never be bigger than us, They make the champions league once and its the end of the world for Arsenal. You sound like one of those plastic mugs who think the answer is spend, spend ,spend sack the manager its all about huge transfers. Fuck off and support someone else.

All i can say is what the biggest load of crap ive read Arsenal 13 years of Champions league football at the beginning of last season all the press blogs said this is Liverpools year Spurs will not get out of the group stages of the champions league and will finish 8th or below next year there out of their depth winning the stupid league cup means nothing we put our teenagers in that stupid tournament im sick of hearing this crap from the press and bloggers alike Cesc wont leave either 5 years left on his contract if he leaves it will be because wenger will be leaving and he will go for a record fee

I agree with some of the sentiments here that this does not hold water in most respects. Now, surely the Spurs have a good chance to take their team into ‘the Big 4’ or whatever this season. If they have another successful campaign and can run a string of CL appearances, the money will allow them to spend at a greater rate. However, as history has proven, one CL appearance is not sufficient. So we shall see how things develop. To conclude that Tottenham are “on the verge” of “permanently” (possibly) overtaking Arsenal is simply silly.

I want to focus on two other points to add to the discussion, since I think this first point has been discussed well already (e.g., Paul Bestall’s comment, though once again, the certainty with which some EPL Talk writers have talked about Fabregas departure is beguiling. There is surely more to the story this time than in previous iterations – and we do hear it every, single, offseason – but we are a long way off from certainty or anything close to it).

The first is that it is wholly unclear to me that Arsenal have failed in their overseas strategy. What evidence do you have? How does Arsenal fail in terms of overseas market share as it is? How much have tours helped in the past? What about Arsenal’s relatively new youth academy in Vietnam? This first part trades in generalities and common wisdom – but it is far from clear that overseas tours are serious methods to extend one’s brand.

Second, I think you place far too much faith on Arsene’s public pronouncements of support. He has always done this, his famous myopia. He unfailingly defends his players in the press. Yet we have seen time and time again that he can be ruthless with players who are not performing. You only have to look back to the unceremonious benching of Jens Lehmann in advance of Euro 2008 in favor of Almunia. If he does not sign a goalkeeper this offseason, that would be a sign that he is wrong about some things at the club, but to base it on his public statements seems mad to me. I too wish he would round out the squad with a bit more depth (he had more faith than was rewarded with Fabianski, Denilson, Diaby), but given his amazing run of success (including with recent buys, such as Sagna, Arshavin, Vermaelen), I see this as a relatively isolated error – not as some gaping hole is oblivious to.

Ultimately, the difficulty in assessing Arsene’s performance of the past few years is the same as it has always been – we simply do not have a clear enough understanding of the financials. We get pronouncements from the club that Arsene can spend, but then we have remarks that he needs to watch his spending. Is he not buying depth because he does not want to spend the money? Or is he not buying depth because of his faith in Denilson? The answer might be both, and it is rather unclear. I admit to being a “In Wenger We Trust” sort of fellow, but I hardly see him as being an obstacle to the club – even if he has made some poor decisions in recent memory.

I completely agree, the topic of Fabregas’ impending depature has been written about seemingly every off season since Euro 2008 and has come to nothing every time.

This season, the story seems to have a little more muscle to it. I had expected Barca to be heavily linked to Fabregas, simply because this summer the club are holding there presidential elections and he is a talismanic figure in Catalonia.

I certainly didn’t expect the outgoing President, Juan Laporta, to be leaving after having signed David Villa and attempting to get Fabregas too. I expected both of them to come packaged with one of the new candidates, especially Sandro Rossell, due his connections with Nike.

As with last close season, virtually every pundit predicted that Arsenal would be the one to fall out of the top 4 to be replaced by Manchester City. As we know now, it was Liverpool who went and Spurs who replaced them and Arsenal weren’t too far from mounting a consistent title challenge.
Never underestimate Arsene Wenger!!

You should really be asking yourself is liverpool still a big club,and anyone with the cheek whom supports liverpool to make silly statements about Arsenal being small need their heads and eye sites examining….7th VS 3rd and no Champions League 🙂

“Inability to Market Themselves, Especially Outside Europe”!!!, I can swear to you that here in Kenya, You can not walk 100meters in town without coming across the Arsenal Logo, It is on the Shirts, Jackets, Key Rings, Onthe windows of both the private and public vehicles, Posters inside the Bars and Restaurants e.t.c. As Kenyans we may not have the money to support Arsenal, But you are dead wrong if you think Arsenal is any less popular just because of lack of silverware.

Fabregas and Gallas came to Arsenal, It is not Arsenal that went to them, Arsenal will survive their departure unnoticed. I’d rather see Kyle Bartley with Vermaelen next season.

Is Arsenal a big club?? I don’t know because sometimes in my home area,it feels like it is the only football club in the world if you follow the crowds.

A more interesting question might be what has the absence of David Dein meant to the last few years and is there anyone of sufficient stature to fill that void if the ownership situation remains in détente.

I don’t think the one who wrote the question “is Arsenal still a big club?” is normal. How can you compare the very great team to the recently rising team-Totenham? i can’t even see logicalness in your writing; you have to remember that in case of Tottenham it is not yet guaranteed that the are going to play Champs league. They have to go through a certain sieve which will testify their partcipatiion in the tournament. Arsenal have been lossing players,mostly key-players to those very rich teams, but they are still attaining their character of being in top-4. From my side, i think Man City was the stable team to be the Champs league. Your article is more hatrid towards Gooners, and i think you are one of those who are ever praying for the downfall of Arsene and his boys. i only agree with you if yuo are asking in case of money. Yes, Arsenal have no money this time , but progressively don’t even try to fool yourself and other Arsenal haters. See what Arsenal will have for its fans and supporters next season

I like that I am being called an Arsenal hater. Apparently, you just read the headline and not the column. What I specifically said was that Arsenal are at a crossroads, and poor decisions, and not replacing talent, could lead to a permanent decline from the top 4.

So Jordan – how did the conversation go?
“Bet I can get more comments than anyone else this week”
Or was it:
“Dang man – we’re low on revenue now that we’re in the gap b/w EPL and WC – Post something that’ll draw a lot of attention and comments for our Ads”

Seriously – you’ve seriously reduced the reputation of this blog with me and many others with this utter shite that you posted. There are a 100 other ways you could have conveyed your “message” aside from this “spectacular” headline and posting. I’m embarrased to know that you support the same club as me. Critical journalism is one thing, flamebait and sh*t stirring is another.

I would find this question more compelling after the summer and the transfer window is closed, and all spending and transfers are done. You have no idea what will be spent or what players will be or not be in the club by the end of that time period. Is it a good question? Sure. But I don’t think it’s a good question right now.
I think it’s a better question if certain holes that need to be filled aren’t, and it doesn’t look like Arsenal spent quality money on what seem to be quality players. And I said quality money, not “a lot of” money for a reason. We got quality in Thomas Vermaelen last summer, so it can be done.
Right now, I’m just not really worried about that question. I may be at the start of the season.

What poor decisions? Arsenal have been putting their money in the Emirates and in the academy and in strong value investments concerning transfers. They are already a stable well run club. This isn’t a project club like Chelsea was or Man City is. When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea, part of the purchase price was ultimately putting several hundred million pounds into the academy, the staff, and most expensively the players. The immediate result was a couple of titles but the more lasting impact was that they were now a perennial contender, Champions League side, a major brand. In other words, a big club. Arsenal are already a Premier League contender, Champions League threat, and a major brand. They have been a big club since at least Chapman.

You say that they are poorly marketed outside of Europe. I currently live in the United States in a fairly small mid-western college town. A majority of the replica club kits that I see are Arsenal. Second is Barca. After that, you have Madrid, Liverpool, Inter, and Milan. Then you get to Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Bayern, Club America, Ajax, Juve, New Castle, and then to Tottenham with a few kits probably more influenced by where Americans have or do play like Fulham and Everton and the odd MLS or K-League follower. I watch matches almost every day at one of the 3 bars and 1 cafe that dedicate their televisions to matches. If Arsenal or Barca play there are 3 or 4 times as many people than any other non-international game. Arsenal have apparently done something right if they are so poor at marketing.

Other than recently being weak at goal, I don’t see the poor decisions.

Until ownership is resolved, it just doesn’t make sense to make a large risky transfer budget part of the equation. They are already a Champions League contender every year. They are already going to compete for the title every year. Why shouldn’t Arsenal continue to concentrate on it’s foundations while playing attractive competitive football?

Arsenal play the best football in the prem league next season will be our season chamakh iz coming in so we hav cover for rvp and a gud goalkeeper will come in and if cesc stays we can hav a brilliant season and hopefully win prem league and persuade cesc to dtay for many years to come. NEXT YEAR IS OUR SEASON. GUNNERS RULE

and if all the stars align just right you can transport to an alternate reality where this stuff is true already. yes you have chamakh. you do not have a good GK yet. cesc is most likely not going to stay. chelsea, united, city, spurs are all looking to buy, and probably more than arsenal. next season is probably not going to be yours. its not impossible, but definitely not likely.

Hiiiiii Liverpool supporter and defender here! I think we’ve forgotten that in the past 5 years, lpool won a CL final in 2005, went to a final but lost in 2007, followed it up by taking Chelsea to wire in the semifinals in 2008, and placed 2nd in the Premier League to Man Yoo last year by only a point or 2. Which is a hell of a lot more than Arsenal has done recently. So my answer is yes, we are still a big club. Yes we had a “bad” season this year, but to be expected when u sell your best midfielder to Madrid and your superstar spent half the campaign inthe stands injured or was playing injured. Do I agree we need new ownership and need to make a few other changes, hells to the yeah! We need to offload some people, settle some debts and get rid of our dumbass owners who don’t know anything about football and yet control everything.

Now, as for Jordan writing this, how dare he not blindly follow his team and actually question the clubs wheelings and dealings and how they could affect the team both in the short and long term! How dare he be concerned about the future of his team and make suggestions as to fix it despite the fact that Arsene or whoever owns your beloved gunners will never read this post. He might be a little misguided, I wouldn’t know, I only care about Arsenal 2 days a year, but a lot of these comments sound like whiny little children bitching cause someone picked on their favorite team.

Well Sh8t on a stick – if you’re going to go there then we’ll go there:
Lets See:
2003-04 – Oh yeah – the Invincibles, Only team EVER to have done this is Arsenal
2003, 05 FA cup winners
CL final in 05-06

As for the excuses of selling your players – well we sold Henry didnt we?
So you’re exempting yourself with excuses that hold less water than the “proverbial” excuses of ours? (Stadium $$ much?) Fact is you’re just jealous that Arsenal can build an entire freaking stadium, sell their best striker, and still stay top four through that?

and as for “a lot of these comments sound like whiny little children bitching cause someone picked on their favorite team.” go ahead and look at your own bloody comment your ignorant tool – cause that’s EXACTLY what you’re doing here…

I notice you had to go farther back to name your accomplishments. We have the FA cup more recently than you as well (2006) I will give you the Invincibles. Thats impressive. We also still hold the record for most Premier League titles (altho, yes, Man U is coming) and 5… FIVE… Champion’s League trophies. Arsenal has how many?? oh yes, none.

well Nottingham Forest have to European cups to Arsenal’s one – does that make them a big club? Is Newcastle still a big club? Both Liverpool and Arsenal are big clubs. The big 4 will not stop being Big Clubs anytime soon – and *gulp* neither will Newcastle. Whether Man City and Tot-ten-ham can become big will be a measure of their winning and their marketing over the next 5-10 years. It’s still a bit too soon to say.

Excuse me, remove Premier from that sentence, were still tied with ManU for 18 league titles. Whatever it was called at the time of winning. But I see your point that we haven’t won in almost 20 years. And yes, we finished outside the top 4 twice. One year we won a CL trophy so I’d say that compensates fairly well, not that Arsenal fans would know what that’s like. And then this year which was due to a great many issues, #1 being Torres was hurt.

Look, I agree with all of you, Arsenal is still a big club. You’ve just not done anything in the last 5 years, unlike the other 75% of the Big Four. Attack me all u want, it’s not gonna change that fact. And I’m pretty sure that’s all he was trying to say too. I don’t think that means he needs to have his fan card revoked. He’s trying to say Arsenal need to step it up in various areas. And after the year they had, so does Liverpool, so u don’t need to tell me about my teams woes.

As soon as Spurs have to start doling out the money for a new stadium that Arsenal has done they’ll be back where they belong on the second page of the table. Hope they enjoy the mid-August plane rides.

Are you crazy!??!?! Liverpool have spent freely?!?! With a net spend of 0 in the last 3 transfer windows!! Your absolutely f*@king crazy! Look at Wenger, spent 15 million on Arshavin – Flop. 18 million on Reyes – Flop
12 million on Walcott – Flop. Bought players like Eduardo, Denilson and Roshitsky who are crap as well.

Oh – and yeah. I’m so glad that your “European pedigree” is keeping you company in 7th place. 20+ pts behind the leaders. You’re just stirring sh*t by posting what you posted. Move on and enjoy that marvelous european run next year that your “pedigree’ has earned you… Oh wait…

I actually pronounce Derby the way it’s pronounced in the UK, which in USA would be spelled “Darby”.

I was only making the statement because Kristian was being a condescending know it all and was wrong. Technically, “is” is the proper term despite cultural grammatical differences. The Arsenal is a singular expression made up of a collection of things, in this case players. So “We are Arsenal” is correct, but “Are Arsenal…” isn’t. Are Arsenal also sounds weird. But I will agree that British and American English are different. This convo is going over on the Liverpool transfer page as well.